Japanese Voice Acting Dichotomy

[Lady Shinigami]

Personally, I generally prefer Japanese voice-acting compared to English dub, but I have certainly heard some good English dub; FullMetal Alchemist (Brotherhood) stands out primarily—it was a pleasant surprise when my sister and I watched FMA in Japanese and then gave the dub a test viewing. Similarly, I've encountered some Japanese voices that I absolutely could not stand and in my mind didn't represent the character at all.

I think it mostly has to do with interpretation as opposed to vocal talent; if the voice isn't convincing for some reason (be it the director's choice or the actor's), the music and visuals can't always rescue it. With Japanese anime and games it's easy for the Japanese to consult the person who originally came up with the character/situation, while those who dub have to do the best they can with a character whose expressions and emotions are frequently ambiguous at best. And sometimes it just isn't that great.

That said, I've seen clips of an American show (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) and a British show (Doctor Who) dubbed in Japanese, and those weren't so great. They were amusing to hear and a suitable replacement, sure, but just didn't capture the original actor's emotion. It just can't be helped.

~LS

[Overflow]

But then again:

Pixar seems to have found more voice actors than just those 6 you mentioned, Brushfire. I wish more more Japanese animators would.

Lol @ 1:32

And holy cow, why is the title for "UP" so LONG in jaoanese?? (0:10)

[Archaon]

Japan only has 3 voice actors per gender. On the Male side they have Shonen, High Voiced Protagonist, and Pretty Boy Voice.

And

Four actors.

[sephfire]

The problem with anime english dubs is that it always tends to draw from the same pool of actors, and many of them aren't terribly good at what they do. The reason Disney's dubs for Ghibli films are so much better is not just because they put so much more work into the dub, but because they hire people outside that anime pool.

Admittedly, it's a little unfair to compare the two, because Disney has access to some high profile talent.

[Species8472]

Some of the time I think the Japanese dialog for female characters would have been better if voiced by dolphins.

[liquid wind]

The problem with anime english dubs is that it always tends to draw from the same pool of actors, and many of them aren't terribly good at what they do. The reason Disney's dubs for Ghibli films are so much better is not just because they put so much more work into the dub, but because they hire people outside that anime pool.

Admittedly, it's a little unfair to compare the two, because Disney has access to some high profile talent.

it's kinda funny sometimes when you randomly notice the voices being the same

like, goku is in f-zero GX!?!?

[OverCoat]

Japan only has 3 voice actors per gender. On the Male side they have Shonen, High Voiced Protagonist, and Pretty Boy Voice. On the Female side they have High Voiced Character, High Voiced Hentai Actor, and Lower Voiced Hentai Actor.

You forgot on the male side: they have the shonen, high voiced protagonist, pretty boy voice, AND... Norio Wakamoto

They should just have Wakamoto voice every character ever. even the girls

[BardicKnowledge]

My favorite dub among my small anime collection is Golden Boy. Whoever voices Kintaro in English does a phenomenal job.

Worst dub from immediate memory: Ghost in the Shell, SAC. The English Motoko is awful compared to the Japanese voice imo, at least as far as tone is concerned.

[The Damned]

My favorite dub among my small anime collection is Golden Boy. Whoever voices Kintaro in English does a phenomenal job.

I thought I was the only person on the planet to have seen and liked the dub for Golden Boy.

[luhny]

Japanese voice acting is a two sided sword.

I think that in cartoons of asian origins (Anime, etc.) the original japanese voice acting is mostly superior to any translated dub. I know you cannot lump everything together, but for the most part I prefer the japanese original with subtitles.

The flaw of any kind of translation is the failure to represent the Japanese social structure. You rarely have the -san, -chan, -kun, -sama, -senpai, etc. relations in the translation. Even how people interact and chose their levels of politeness cannot really be grasp in a translation without losing some sort of meaning.

That said, I think no translated dub of an Anime can represent what the real meaning of the dialog between two people is.

A whole different story are other voice acting categories. When japanese people try to dub movies or cartoons of European or American origin, it just does not feel right in any kind of way.

Who of you ever watched Star Wars - A New Hope in Japanese? It's terrible, IMO. The whole movie dialog was never meant to be translated and adapted to a Japanese grammar and their politeness levels and whatnot.

In video games, it's the same: Most anime related games work best in japanese with subtitles - IMO, whilst I cannot even begin to imagine how strange a Dragon Age or Mass Effect would sound in Japanese... nah, that's a no no (for me).

So I guess it depends on the origins and what the creators intended to transfer from the screen to the consumer.

And of course these are no facts, just my personal opinion. I am glad that tastes are different

Cheers,

-Luhny

[Archaon]

You forgot on the male side: they have the shonen, high voiced protagonist, pretty boy voice, AND... Norio Wakamoto

overcoat

And

Four actors.

OVERCOAT

GOD DAMN IT

OVERCOAT

[The Phalanx]

except for the select few who sound like Kuroneko of Onmyouza

Oh god her voice is pure sex.

[OverCoat]

overcoat

OVERCOAT

GOD DAMN IT

OVERCOAT

fuck reading dude that's for anime voice actors

[Kizyr]

Once I got to the point of being able to understand Japanese VAs without subtitles, it did seem that the voice acting in general wasn't as good as when I first started watching anime. It's still good, but not as good.

So, that'd seem to confirm that there's a certain amount of bias that does come from not being able to understand the language (i.e., being able to gloss over bad language as mentioned before). But, there are a lot of Japanese VAs that are nevertheless a lot better than their American counterparts. ...there are also a lot of cases where I prefer the American VA over the Japanese one.

Most of my experience comparing the two directly though is with video game voice acting, which usually has the same positives/pitfalls as anime voice acting.

Most of the things that irritate me in Japanese voice acting have already been mentioned. I don't like the high-pitched voices for young characters, for instance. With American voice acting, the most common problem I've heard is bland or underemphatic acting. KF

[Soma]

I thought I was the only person on the planet to have seen and liked the dub for Golden Boy.

It's not just you guys.

[OceansAndrew]

My favorite dub among my small anime collection is Golden Boy. Whoever voices Kintaro in English does a phenomenal job.

100% agree.

I have never heard the original Japanese, but I can guarantee it isn't a fraction as awesome as the English dub is.

[Salluz]

Rant

Don't worry, because inside, we are just as pissed off at bad anime as anyone else.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t-9W1LmHi4&t=3m45s

Pure sex.